Coating for welding electrodes



Get. 14, 1930. KlNKEAD 1,778,392

comma FOR WELDING ELECTRODES Filed Dec. 13, 1928 Patented Oct. 14, 1930 i UNITED-STATES PATENT OFFICE Y ROBERT Et-EG'KEAJJ, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR 'IO HOLLUB OOEPOBA'I'ION, A

' CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS "comma FOR WELDING Enncrnonas Application filed December is, 1928. Serial No. 825,851.

My invention relates to improvements in wound in the form of a coil 12, as shown in coatings for welding electrodes. I Fig. 2, for example. Where using this con- One object of the invention is to rovide fection for a coating for electrodes, the flaa coating, as. an article of manu acture voring of licorice may, of course, be omitted, separate and distinct from the electrode it the mass of material being made of the usual self, but adapted to be applied readily to a com osition involving, in some cases, aniseed bare electrode to convert the latter into a oil, our, corn syrup, or other form of sugar, coated electrode if desired. carbon and also other carbo-hydrates. For Another objectis to provide an electrode some purposes a tube of macaroni may be coating of such characteristics as to result in used, although it is morebrittle. 60 a protective gaseous envelope near or sur- It is advantageous also to coat the tubing, rounding the are during the welding operaor mix in the material, ground glass which tion, thus protecting the weld until the metal fuses during the welding operation, as in solidifies. arc Welding for example, and thus forms a A further object is to provide a separate protective coating over the molten metal. 55 flexible coating in the form of some readily In some cases it may be desirable, instead available manufactured product to be a of sliding the tube over the metal electrode, plied, by the operator, to a soecalled bare to split the tube 13 longitudinally and open electrode of metal; a hollow tube of the it sufficiently to receive the rod or wire 10,

2o confection lmown as licorice beihg well after which the coating particularly springs 19 adapted to the purpose. together and may be bent to completely en- In the accompanying drawings I have ilcircle the electrode, as in Fig. 4, for exam 1e. lustrated several embodiments of the inven-- Such an arrangement would be desira le tion, where the rod instead of being a bare rod Fig. 1 is an elevation of a metal electrode carries some coating which it is desirable 75 covered withthe tube or coating; Y not to rub off by sliding a tube over it.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a coiled tube In commercial practice manufacturing or licorice; I companies which make considerable use of r F' g. 3 is an enlarged section of an electrode welding electrodes usually require both coated With a split tubing separate from it-to show and uncoa'ted electrodes in stock, and with '39 another Way of applying the coating; and the present invention they are enabled to Fig. 4 is a section of the electrode with its coat such electrodes as require coating b coating thereon.- merely cutting off a suitable length of tub- In Fig. 1, the electrode 10 may be of any ing and slipping it over the Welding wire or as suitable material, such, for example, as a rod welding rod. With this arrangement it is a or Wire of'mild steel or of some alloy. possible to readily provide an electrode with This electrode has a coating 11 in the form whatever coating is required for a particular of a tube having a bore slightly in excess type of weldin and coatings of different of the diameter of the electrode so that it character may thus be kept in stock and an 40 may be readily slipped thereon and held by arrangement provided which is very flexible 9o friction, which latter may be increased if the in that the stock of welding wire may be fit is too loose by bending the electrod reduced. There is also an economy in freight slightly. The tube is preferably made of in that the purchase of the bare Wire and of flexible material so that in case the electrode the tubing may be made for less than the is not straight, it may be slipped over the purchase of coated wire where the wire is to 05 electrode without cracking or reaking. be shipped from the mill to some distant point One form of flexible tube suitable for this to be coated, and then to various customers, purpose is the confection lmown as licorice some of which may be located in the territory which is made in the form of a hollow tube of the mill. v and is sufiiciently flexible so that it ma; be Theparticular coating described herein has the efiect', when heated by the arc, of forming a gaseous envelope surrounding or adjacent to the arc, thereby protecting the metal from the atmosphere while it is molten.

What I claim is:

1. A. coating. for welding electrodes comprising aflexible tube, the bore of which is in excess of the diameter of the electrode to which it is to be applied.

10 2; As a new article of manufacture, a fiexi' ble tubing, the bore of which is in excess of 1 the diameter oft-he electrode to which it .iS to be applied and of .a composition which forms a protecting vaporabout the are.

{ 3. A coatin for'welding'electrodes comprising a fiexi le tube, formed from plastic material containi n a carbohydrate base.

In testimony w ereof, I havesubscribed my name.

m ROBERT 'E. KINKEAD, 

